Breaking News: Lt. Dan Choi Getting Arrested in Front of White House

Proving once again his position as inspirational leader in the LGBT community, Lt. Dan Choi is getting arrested in front of the White House in about an hour. Choi, who has been a leading spokesperson in the struggle to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), feels strongly that additional sacrifice is needed by all of us in order to ensure its passage. A tipping point for the Lieutenant came when it was clear that there is a lack of passion from the White House regarding attaching the repeal of DADT on the Defense Authorization Act.

Lt. Choi Was joined in his action by Capt James Pietrangelo. In a statement, Choi said,

"Today, I am here on a mission with Capt. Jim Pietrangelo, and we are asking you all to join us. We’re calling you to action because we are at a turning point -- a moment in time where talk is no longer enough, and action is required.

Equality is not going to happen by itself

Continuing Choi's statement said:

And if we don’t seize this moment it may not happen for a very long time.

Some may tell you that I am one of the lucky ones. I have been welcomed back by my unit with open arms. And it would be easy for me to stay quiet and hope that change will happen.

But what I was taught at West Point and learned in war is -- hope is not a strategy. As officers, James and I both find it a dereliction of our moral duty to remain silent while thousands of our brothers and sister are not allowed to serve openly and honestly.

Capt. Pietrangelo was honorably discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 2004 and I will be subject to the same shortly. As officers we are here today fighting for those in the ranks, and we need our Commander in Chief to do the same.

In a phone conversation with this blog, Choi indicated that it was a very tough decision. He understands fully 'the consequences of my actions and am willing to bear the sacrifice" in hopes of increasing the odds of passing DADT.

Even though national organizations and members of Congress have declared that DADT would be passed this year, it appears more and morei in trouble. Choi's actions is a brave and courage one and he deserves the praise of an entire community for once again 'reporting for duty' and making a sacrifice for his country.

The Article That Has All Of Washington Buzzing!

 Journalist Edward Luce has written an article "A Fearsome Foursome" that is the talk of political circles. He openly discusses what has been bantered about in private dinner parties inside the Beltway. Luce's article is one of those rare ones that comes along and suddenly crystallizes everyone's private concerns about Obama's inner circle. After an arguably weak and indecisive year, people have been seeking answers and solutions so that the Democrats are not hammered in the coming elections. Few stars have emerged in the Obama team among the Cabinet as if they have been kept under wraps. Well, apparently they have been intentionally hidden from the public.

In the Financial Times (FT.com), Luce writes:

Pundits, Democratic lawmakers and opinion pollsters offer a smorgasbord of reasons - from Mr Obama's decision to devote his first year in office to healthcare reform, to the president's inability to convince voters he can "feel their [economic] pain", to the apparent ungovernability of today's Washington. All may indeed have contributed to the quandary in which Mr Obama finds himself. But those around him have a more specific diagnosis - and one that is striking in its uniformity. The Obama White House is geared for campaigning rather than governing, they say.

In dozens of interviews with his closest allies and friends in Washington - most of them given unattributably in order to protect their access to the Oval Office - each observes that the president draws on the advice of a very tight circle. The inner core consists of just four people - Rahm Emanuel, the pugnacious chief of staff; David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, his senior advisers; and Robert Gibbs, his communications chief.

Luce continues:

With the exception of Mr Emanuel, who was a senior Democrat in the House of Representatives, all were an integral part of Mr Obama's brilliantly managed campaign. Apart from Mr Gibbs, who is from Alabama, all are Chicagoans - like the president. And barring Richard Nixon's White House, few can think of an administration that has been so dominated by such a small inner circle.

"It is a very tightly knit group," says a prominent Obama backer who has visited the White House more than 40 times in the past year. "This is a kind of 'we few' group . . . that achieved the improbable in the most unlikely election victory anyone can remember and, unsurprisingly, their bond is very deep."

The article then illuminates on Obama's failure to communicate about healthcare and to use his Cabinet:

"Historians will puzzle over the fact that Barack Obama, the best communicator of his generation, totally lost control of the narrative in his first year in office and allowed people to view something they had voted for as something they suddenly didn't want," says Jim Morone, America's leading political scientist on healthcare reform. "Communication was the one thing everyone thought Obama would be able to master."

Whatever issue arises, whether it is a failed terrorist plot in Detroit, the healthcare bill, economic doldrums or the 30,000-troop surge to Afghanistan, the White House instinctively fields Mr Axelrod or Mr Gibbs on television to explain the administration's position. "Every event is treated like a twist in an election campaign and no one except the inner circle can be trusted to defend the president," says an exasperated outside adviser.

Perhaps the biggest losers are the Cabinet members. Kathleen Sebelius, Mr Obama's Health Secretary and formerly governor of Kansas, almost never appears on television and has been largely excluded both from devising and selling the healthcare bill. Others such as Ken Salazar, the interior secretary who is a former senator for Colorado, and Janet Napolitano, head of the Department for Homeland Security and former governor of Arizona, have virtually disappeared from view.

Administration insiders say the famously irascible Mr Emanuel treats cabinet principals like minions. "I am not sure the president realises how much he is humiliating some of the big figures he spent so much trouble recruiting into his Cabinet," says the head of a presidential advisory board who visits the Oval Office frequently. "If you want people to trust you, you must first place trust in them."

There are tons more insights in Luce's article and I urge you toread all of it by clicking here.

LGBT Community: Be Visible This Holiday Season.

The last couple of months have been difficult for the LGBT community. With the defeat in Maine and New York, the postponement of DADT hearings, ENDA tied up in committee, death sentences pending in Uganda and the Democrats breaking their word and lying in New Jersey. As we enter this holiday season, it is more important than ever to be visible and have a 'white ribbon' holiday.

Everyone should create 'white ribbons' for full equality and distribute and wear them at every possible moment. Please don't be afraid any longer. Wear these ribbons to the office party, wear them shopping, wear them home for the holiday, wear them at holiday gatherings. Carry extra ribbons and ask your friends and family to wear them. When people ask what they symbolize, let them know we are proud and are not budging one inch on our demand for full equality.

Hopefully, those who receive invitations to the White House Christmas Party will flood the room with white ribbons so the President can be reminded in this season of goodwill to all that we want full equality. In fact, what a great volunteer project for our brothers and sisters in DC. They can make them and stand as the lines form for the Christmas Party at the White House and ask the invitees to please wear the 'white ribbon' for full equality.

Don't forget to wear them to all religious services and that special neighborhood open house. Already many are pontificating that our desire for full equality is too 'ambitious'.

Hell's Kitchen Journal: My View From A Wheelchair

As many of you know, I was in intensive care for a week in August and have been making a slow but full recovery. My energy level is still very low and it is difficult to be mobile at times. As Tennyson says in "Ulysses", "I am not that force which in old days moved heaven and earth." Nevertheless, I am strong in spirit, my mind is sharp, my wit is wicked, my sexuality is naughty and I am back to help make the world a more gentle place with my friends.

One of the by-products of my low energy level has been that a few times I have required the use of a wheel chair in order to carry out certain tasks. Now that has not been all bad, since I have some very hot muscle friends push me around. Many said they have waited for years to be able to 'push me around.' Gently I reminded them not to get carried away.

At the National Equality March, given the extremely long days and many events, I had to participate almost full time in a wheel chair. Being pushed up Pennsylvania Ave by a dear friends was a first for me but realized that perhaps it wasn't so bad since my feet were not blistered at the end. When I went to the White House for the signing of the Hate Crimes Bill, I underestimated the amount of walking to the East Room and once I arrived my strength had totally left me. Thus one more wheel chair came out for this guest. Since the signing was a 'standing event' with the President, being seated was not easy.

What I have gained through this experience is a new appreciation of the lives of those who are confined full time to a wheel chair. My perspective has been sharpened and my resolve strengthened to fight for disabled rights. Now at the March, the young were amazing to me. Helpful in pushing, solicitous of my needs, making sure I had a good site for viewing and showing great understanding. The experience at the White House was somewhat different and opened my eyes to some of the challenges facing people in a wheel chair.

Knowing I might have a problem, I emailed ahead to see if a chair would be available in the East Room. The response was that this was a 'standing event.' Say what? Knowing how swamped they must be in preparations for such a historical moment, I knew the White House had chairs and wasn't too worried. In the foyer for the reception, I quickly found one and rested from the long walk. Part of the problem with my illness (they have no idea what it is still!) is that I get very weak at times. As the doors opened to the East Room there was not a chair in sight. Forget my problems, what about older people who might need to sit through a long process?

Two dear friends Richard Socarites and Jane Oates immediately sensing I wasn't doing too well made it their mission to find a chair. Evidently, that was a huge request and they had difficulty finding someone to respond to this special need. Finally, I found a bench way off in the corner of the East Room. Now I am a big man and I was sure this was some sort of Dolly Madison bench and if I sat on it, the entire thing with me on it would fall to the floor. However I had no choice but to try. Fortunately, both Dolly Madison and my dignity were spared!

As always with these events there was great excitement and jockeying to see the President. Even those who had seen him numerous times staked their positions at the front of the line. Finally a wonderful White House Usher came with a wheel chair and refused to leave my side the entire evening. He attempted to move me in the wheel chair to the front of the line where I could see and people could see over me. We met stiff resistance and dirty looks. This kind man was able to finally get me to an awkward position next to the wall where if I leaned way over to the right I could see the back of Obama's head in the crowd.

What an eye opener for me concerning some of the challenges people face in wheel chairs. I knew most of these people and that made it even more disappointing. They weren't about to move and lose their spot except that all they had to do was take a few steps backward. There were some other observations I noticed. When I was without the wheelchair, people would come up and chat and engage in conversation. When I was in the wheel chair few would engage and many felt uncomfortable. People would nod or wave at me across the hall but few approached. Nothing had changed about me except my position.

Now, I am making a slow and full recovery and am very excited about that. However, my dear friends the next time you see people in wheel chairs, they are not helpless nor powerless nor have they lost their ability to chat and think. They are just in a sitting position. Make room for them so they can enjoy the event as part of a greater community. Engage them as you would any mobile person. Take a second and just think carefully and ask if you are responding differently. Cause I am here to tell you, some of you are doing just that....responding differently and most likely not even knowing it.

I promise you I am already examining my past behavior to ensure I grow from this experience. If we all took a minutes to reflect, then I know we all would be better people.

An Emotional and Moving Moment

Traveling to Washington for the reception at the White House for the Shepard/Byrd - Hate Crimes Bill signing, I understood the historic significance of the day. For the first time in my life and I guess anyone's life - the President of the United States was going to sign into a law a piece of positive legislation about LGBT rights. For years, I have grown used to past presidents signing such bills as DOMA and DADT or the oppressive Jessie Helms amendments from the 1980's. So the reality of such a historic first was actually hard to intellectually comprehend.

Going to the White House is not a new experience for me - my first visit to the West Wing was in the 1960's. Ironically, the people that had me most to the White House until President Clinton was Richard Nixon's ship of fools. However, no matter how many times walking into the building, there is a sense of awe and certainly a sense of history. The building has the capacity to never grow old. No matter who the occupant, it will always be the people's house. We are just letting the presidents use it. They might forget it but we should never forget it is our house.

The president had actually signed the legislation earlier in a small signing ceremony in the Rose Garden. My guess is since it was a military approbation bill and hate crimes was a mere 'rider/amendment', it was hard for political reasons to have a huge signing of the legislation without mixing in with the military where we are still not allowed to serve. The reception, sponsored by the David Bohnett Foundation, was held in the foyer at the entrance of the White House. Immediately, I was struck that the portrait of President Lyndon Johnson had made a return to a place of honor on the Grand Staircase. Times do change even for dead presidents. Wonder how many portraits have been moved in and out of storage over the years as administrations change?

The cast of characters at the White House was predictable, holding few surprises - the heads of national organizations and some key staff. They were mixed with open LGBT people who are powerful lobbyists now such as Steven Elmendorf and Robert Rabin along with Congresswoman Baldwin and Congressman Frank. The usual other players included those who had the money to buy their way in over the years in the Democratic Party. Maybe the big surprise of the day was given my critical columns over the last weeks, that I was even invited. But let me be clear, I was glad to be there on this historic day.

First Judy and Dennis Shepard with their son Logan entered with two members of James Byrd's family (the African American man who was brutally slain by being dragged behind a truck in Jasper, Texas). They stood behind President Obama as he made his usual eloquent and powerful remarks about hate, the consequences and his zero tolerance for it. For me, while appreciating his remarks, I could not get the Shepards and Byrds out of my mind. Here were two families ripped apart by the worst brutality one can imagine and now they were honored guests in the White House and on stage with the president. The sight was so emotional and overwhelming especially as the two families hugged and co-mingled. In that moment, the hate that resulted in the deaths of their loved ones was vanquished to the dark pages of history where it belongs.

There would be no hate crimes bill if it weren't for two people. First, Senator Edward Kennedy who for over two decades did everything within his powers to get this legislation passed. His absence physically made the moment even more overwhelming and emotional. This was his bill, his day and his passion. The other person is Judy Shepard who for ten years of her life has devoted herself to pass this legislation in honor of her lovely son who was crucified on a prairie fence. What an ending for Judy and her family. All that work, all those hours, all those moments forced to relive her son's death in order to seek justice came together in a bittersweet victory for her. One would have to have a cold heart not to have tears in your eyes for both.

The presence of Attorney General Eric Holder and his refusal to take a stand on Maine reminded me (as if I needed reminded) of how much more we have to do and how far we have to go. But for the first time in my life, I saw a bill supporting our struggle signed into law. For that brief moment, it felt just wonderful. I could get use to it.